


The Teeeens! 'Verse Bag of Infinite Holding

by thewindowsshutdownnoise



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:28:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewindowsshutdownnoise/pseuds/thewindowsshutdownnoise
Summary: Well, as I put it in the Tumblr post where this concept first appeared, "My brain’s been trying for a while now to hijack me into writing a fic where Ink is one of the youngest outcodes, and the first time he and Error encounter each other actually happens after the events of the errortale comics, where Error fucks off to … wherever and just runs smack dab into Ink, newly come into his powers/the doodle sphere/whatever, who’s just like, “Lol heard you guys had a dumb war. Here to help restore the balance, I guess.” It then quickly became Bad Sans + Ink Poly fic, involving Ink ending up (sort of) part of Nightmare's Gang because why not. Only it's probably going to remain a bunch of snippets that I'll just keep collecting here, I guess.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This could just as easily be titled something like A Concept I Don't Have Near Enough Free Time To Handle, Properly, But Also Can't Stop Writing Snippets For, So, Here, Have Some Snippets About A Multiverse In Which Ink Joins Nightmare's Gang. But that makes for a kind of unwieldy title, so. 
> 
> Technically, the [rarepair-cult](https://rarepair-cult.tumblr.com/) Tumblr is to thank/blame for this, since they answered the [ask](https://rarepair-cult.tumblr.com/post/183201488915/ink-but-he-is-on-the-bad-guys-side-and-it-winds) about Ink joining Nightmare's side that inspired this whole multiverse concept, and I ... have no self-control. So, really, my self-control issues are to blame, but they did lend the inspiration.
> 
> Note: no one in this is actually a teenager and no teens were harmed in the course of making these snippets, but I did laugh pretty hard at the idea of naming this 'verse that, so here we are.

“Why would you want to destroy something that was made with so much love?” Ink asked. Error sneered at him, ready to summon his strings--ready to shout back as the glitches fracturing his appearance began to multiply, knowing his voice would wobble and bend under their weight the instant he--

Then he caught Ink’s _actual_ tone and …

Stopped. Stared.

His voice didn’t hold a single emotion that would have made sense to the glitch. He wasn’t angry. In fact, he wasn’t speaking even a fraction louder than the moment before, his tone smooth and entirely too easy, unencumbered by the hatred and judgment that Error was so used to scanning over, in others’ voices. 

(The hissing, echoing voices that spit venom in a white and empty void, bumping down the grooves of old but oft-repeated phrases, the trembling of words too true to ignore and--)

Ink looked curious.

Correction: Ink _only_ looked curious. His ever-shifting eye lights were focused solely on Error, intent, unwavering. Not vacant, no. (A prospect somehow less intimidating than Ink’s current expression.) Not empty, but … 

Not understanding, either.

Ink didn’t know, Error realized. This was not an attempt to play dumb so the other monster could then safely pass judgment on him. He didn’t know why Error destroyed. But he _wanted_ to. It was possibly the first time another being had asked Error an entirely honest question, unfettered by moralism or history.

Contrarily, it had him snapping his mouth shut. 

Error took a step back as Ink took one forward, quite certain he wasn’t just _imagining_ the little flowers that sprung up each time Ink lifted one of his sneakers off the loamy earth. His mismatched eye lights shifted rapidly between the small, colorful flowers and Ink’s grinning face, growling louder as Ink simply continued to advance.

“Heh. You doing alright, there, bud?” Ink asked. “You don’t look so good.”

“What _are_ you?” Error hissed at him, glitches garbling his audio quality so badly, he was almost surprised Ink even understood the question.

Ink just shrugged. “Don’t know, but--ohhh.” He became instantly distracted, watching Error summon his strings. His eye sockets widened. Then he simply disappeared. Error spun around, nearly shrieking when he found that Ink had teleported directly behind him and was now staring down at the shimmering, blue strings that dripped from his raised fists. “Those look _cool_.” 

#

Ink appeared (quite literally out of thin air) and jumped on Error’s back, practically squealing, “Dream said you were born in the anti-Void! Just like me!” right against Error’s skull. 

Error would deny his following “girl-ish, glitchy screaming” to his dying day. 

He took full credit for the resulting fracture to Ink’s thick skull, though.

#

“What are you doing?” Horror asked Nightmare, as the other monster walked into the kitchen and snatched a full glass of water directly out of Dust’s hand. 

“Making a deal with the devil,” Nightmare said, expression _already_ unamused as he threw the glass at the floor, shattering it and sending the water spilling across the interlocking stone tiles.

“Uhhh … Error?” Horror hazarded, glancing at Dust, who just shrugged as Nightmare’s frown grew that little bit more severe, both of the other monsters obviously unsure who would require more … care on approach than the little glitch who mostly refused to leave the anti-Void, these days. 

“ _Worse_ ,” Nightmare said, glowering down at where the water was beginning to bubble and froth. 

“Huh,” Horror said--then pulled out his ax as Dust drew his knife. Just in case. Nightmare didn’t look worried, exactly. Anything powerful enough, itself, to make a monster like Nightmare frown, though, should probably be treated with _some_ caution. “So what--”

The water boiled over and burst _upwards_ , making Horror sputter in surprise and take an involuntary step back, shaking his head to clear it as he heard a new voice in the kitchen--bright, cheery, a little manic.

“Hey, Dream! I--oh!” Horror looked up to find another skeleton monster standing there, his bright sneakers planted in the water that Nightmare had spilled. He was grinning at Nightmare, sharp and delighted, as his eyes constantly shifted through different shapes and colors. “Ohhh. _That’s_ not what I was expecting.”

_The new anti-Void being_ , Horror realized. _Ink_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ink encounters some locals, and probably everyone _but_ Ink has regrets about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and any that show up after will include snippets that did not appear on Tumblr/in the original post about this 'verse.

“Yeah,” Ink said. “It’s usually like that, bud. You guys are always pointing fingers at each other. Pretty quick to call everyone else out for being ‘bad guys.’ But you don’t ask very many questions about yourself, you know that?” Ink pivoted, grinning slightly, as he pointed at a couple of monster children playing across the street. “You see them?” 

The monster he was talking to looked and nodded, seeming a little confused.

Ink turned back towards him, his grin widening. “You’ve killed them in at least three different timelines.” 

The monster’s eyes widened. 

“And that’s just _this_ universe’s timelines. What about alternate universes? After all, they’re just different versions of you. If there’s a Fell version of you out there whose killed hundreds--or thousands--does that mean you’re capable of it, too?”

Leaning in close, Ink smiled at him, sharp and bright. “Do you want to know what the worst thing you’ve ever done was?” The monster blanched, not even able to finish shaking his head before Ink added. “I can’t tell you, now.” He pulled back, a little, a pitiful distance that did not seem to help the unfortunate monster’s nerves, overmuch. “But I could probably come back. Tell you later. Like a bedtime story!”

Ink cocked his head, blinking, eye lights cycling rapidly and going a little hazy before they focused back in, settling on an exclamation point and a target symbol. Upon seeing the second symbol appear, Nightmare actually arched his browbone at Ink without meaning to. But in the next moment, that eye light, too, disappeared, shifting to an innocuous-looking square. 

“Here’s the thing,” Ink said. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t change what you’ve done. But what you’re going to do … nobody can judge that, yet.” Ink lifted his arms up into the air, grinning rather manically down at the other monster, who, by now, looked sorry to have ever approached him. “You guys have almost infinite potential for action! I have no idea what you’re going to do next! You could just stand there! Staring! Or you could attack me! You could save everyone here or end up setting that house over there on fire or … you could punch Nightmare in the face!”

Nightmare’s eyes narrowed, as he directed his speech entirely ( _witheringly_ ) at Ink. “Punch me in the face and die.”

Ink, of course, entirely ignored him, simply forging onward, “You could kill those kids! Again!” Resting his hands on his hips, Ink let out a contented sort of sigh. “Man, the multiverse is awesome.” He frowned down at the monster. “But it’s not good. And it’s not bad. It just _is_. Monsters are the same way. Human’s, too. No one’s good, and no one’s bad. We’re all just …” He paused a moment, then shrugged. “A lot of actions that we haven’t taken yet.” He smiled brightly at the monster, again, who quailed, a little, under his gaze. “Like you! You probably could have done better today! But you probably could have done worse, too! I mean, nobody died.” Ink blinked. “Well, nobody died that I saw. I only paid attention for so long.” He shrugged. “If you want me to pay more attention, you’re going to have to work on being more interesting, first. Like I said: probably could have done better.” 

He glanced down at the other monster, sudden and sharp, like he was only _truly_ noticing him for the first time, now. His eye lights were changing, changing, changing--

They stopped. Once more, Nightmare noted the appearance of that red target symbol. 

“You should probably leave, now,” Ink said, and the other monster scurried away.

Nightmare turned to him, regarding the little gremlin through narrowed eyes, again. “How did you know who that was?” 

“Hmm?” Ink asked, giving Nightmare an entirely blank look. “Why would I know who that was?”

Nightmare gestured at the monster children, still at play. “You said he killed them. Three times, at least. You cannot possibly _know_ that.”

“Oh!” Ink said. “Don’t worry, I don’t!” He shrugged. “But the timelines are basically infinite. If it hasn’t happened already, it probably will happen.” Rubbing at his own chin, a little idly, Ink squinted over at the group of monster children. “So, _technically_ , I wasn’t lying. Probably. Either way, it got the point across.”

Nightmare blinked at him, slowly, then said, voice especially dry, “Has Dream’s moralizing really gotten that sloppy?”

Ink laughed, a little. “Nope! I mostly learned that from you.”

The tentacles at Nightmare’s back curled tighter against his own form before unwinding, again. “ … And you tried to get him to punch me. Very poorly. I see why trying to teach you anything might be too much for Dream.”

Ink shrugged. “You have to admit, that would have been pretty funny.” Which, no. No, Nightmare did not and _would_ not. Ink just smiled down at him as his eye lights continued their ceaseless flitting between different shapes and colors. ”But, hey, even if I could have done better, today, I also could have done worse.”


End file.
